


As Time Goes By

by FrigginTimeTravelMan



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Awesome Charlie Bradbury, BAMF Bobby Singer, BAMF Castiel (Supernatural), BAMF Dean Winchester, BAMF Henry Winchester, BAMF Sam Winchester, Charlie Bradbury & Dean Winchester Friendship, Good Person Gadreel (Supernatural), Happy Dean Winchester, Lawyer Sam Winchester, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:01:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21591949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrigginTimeTravelMan/pseuds/FrigginTimeTravelMan
Summary: God is locked away. Sam and Dean's lives are finally their own to live. With a little help from their great grandfather, they leave the future behind to change the past.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 89





	As Time Goes By

* * *

_I can feel it,_ Dean thought. _Freedom._ It was a new feeling. In fact, Dean Winchester didn't think he'd ever been free before. No, Deam knew he hadn't. He'd heard it from Angels, Demons, Archangels, and finally, God. His life had been nothing more than a writing exercise for the creator of the universe. _Well, he's gone now. And it's gonna be me behind the wheel from now on._

Dean let out a sigh as he kicked his feet up. There was nothing but smooth sailing ahead. Except for the run of the mill monsters that he and his brother hunted. For a moment, Dean's imagination got the better of him, and the empty bunker was filled. The family he lost filled the library. Charlie was prodding Castiel with questions about hunting. Mom and dad hunched over a lore book, studying for their next hunt. Bobby was walking in with Sam after a supply run, bags full of beer and pie. Dean shook the dream from his head, and he was alone once again.

For days, Sam had been on some spiritual hippie journey celebrating their newfound freedom. Dean couldn't blame the kid. He had been dealt a bad hand in life. Demon blood. Dead girlfriends. Vessel of Lucifer. Dean did not envy his brother. He couldn't even blame him for some of his more sketchy choices. It wasn't Sam's fault that things had gone down the way they did.  
 _No._ It was God's _fault_.

Dean shoved the thought away. It wouldn't do him any good to dwell on it now. His life was his, and he was going to live it the best way he knew how. Find himself a monster, then go and kill the son of a bitch. Because that's what he did. He killed monsters. He was a hunter, not some muppet with God's hand up his ass.

"Dean, I found it!" Sam said.

"Found what?" Dean asked. He dropped his feet from the desk and sat straighter. "Wait, what are you even doing here? I thought you were on your spiritual journey or whatever?"

"No, I got back last night. And I wasn't on a spiritual journey." Sam said. "I was getting everything we need to do the spell."

"Really, Sam? No, okay." Dean set his beer down and stood up. "You know the consequences. It's too danger-"

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Sam interrupted.

"The Mark of Cain?" Dean rolled up his sleeve displaying the mark of the first curse. "You want to try removing it again, don't you?"

"No," Sam said, frowning. "I don't like that you have it. And I don't trust Amara as far as I can throw her, but Chuck needs to stay locked up."

Dean glanced at the box in his brother's hand. "Then I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Henry's spell, Dean. You remember him, right?"

Dean rolled his eyes. _Can't forget something like that._ He thought. It wasn't every day the grandfather you dad thought ran out on him as a kid popped out of your closest.

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"Time travel." Sam set his box on the table. He picked out bottles of ingredients. "Tears of a dragon. Pinch of the sands of time. An angel feather. Everything we need to go back in time."

"Time travel? Seriously, Sam?"

"Yes, seriously, Dean. This is our shot, man!" Sam exclaimed.

"Our shot for what?" Dean asked, irritated. He wasn't drunk enough to be talking about time travel that didn't involve a DeLorean.

"To change our lives, Dean," Sam said. "Think about it. God's gone, right? So if we go back in time, we can change everything. Jess doesn't have to die. Dad too. Hell, we can save everyone that's died."

"You can't save everyone, Sam. Besides, we didn't let Henry go back in time because you don't mess with time."

"Yeah, no, I get that. I do. But if the universe was dancing to God's tune, then he was the one setting things right. Maybe making things worse so anyone who time-traveled reversed what they did. With him out of the picture-"

"It's possible to change the past and not completely screw the world." Dean nodded. It sounded plausible; he'd give Sam that. "But, if we're going to do this, why not go back farther? Stop mom from cutting a deal with Yellow-eyes."

Sam shook his head. "That was my first thought too." He said. "But dad saved a lot of people. And so have we. If we go back to 1973, we'll be like sixty years old in 2005. Hunting won't be easy at that age. That's if we don't die first."

 _If you don't die first, Dean_ thought, rubbing a hand over the Mark. Sam would die, but he'd become a demon again.

"2005? That's as far back as we go?" He asked.

"Yeah, I wish we could save mom too, Dean. But-"

"But a lot of people would die if we did," Sam said. He looked at Dean. "What do you think?"

"I think we should call Cass," Dean said. "He'll want in on this."

_*** * *** _

It was a few hours later when footsteps on the stairs leading down into the bunker caught their attention.

"Cass, you got our message." Sam looked at Dean, a moment before the angel walked through the doorway into the library, wearing a rumpled trench coat over a two-piece suit and loosened tie that had become his uniform.  
While cut off from heaven, Castiel lacked the full powers of an angel of the Lord. No longer able to teleport, he traveled by conventional means. More often than not, that meant his old lincoln. Restoring Castiel's Grace was another problem their plan could solve. In the meantime, the world-weary angel seemed resigned to a fate that meant gradually fading away.

"Sam. Dean." Castiel glanced at each of them in turn, then took in the box on the table. "I assume you're going back to the night your mother died?"

Sam gave a slight shake of his head. "No, we agreed that it's...we're going back to 2005. The night Dean came to get me at school."

"I see," Castiel said, glancing at Dean, an unspoken question passing between them. Dean nodded his head.

"It sounded insane to me too." Dean shrugged. "But what can I say, Sam made a good case in favor of time travel. Looks like law school finally paid off."

"Pre-law." Sam corrected before asking the angel. "Are you in, Cass?"

"I'm here, aren't I," Castiel said, arms spread. "Time travel is tricky, but I believe we have earned this."

"Great," Dean said, smiling. "Let's get this show on the road. Sam, you're up."

"Right," Sam nodded. "I'll draw the sigil on the kitchen door, and then it's back to Marty Mcfly time."

"My kitchen dude, really?" Dean asked.

Sam rolled his eyes and led the way to the kitchen. When they got back to 2005, the sigil wouldn't be on the door. And even if it was, it was written in blood. It'd buff out with enough elbow grease.

"You guys ready?" He asked when he was standing in front of the door.

Castiel clapped a hand on Dean's shoulder and nodded. "I'm ready."

"Let's do it." Dean agreed.

Sam went to work, drawing the symbol their grandfather had used to escape Abaddon. When the sigil was complete, he began chanting.

"Kah-Nee-Lah...Poo-Goh. Kah-Nee-Lah...Poo-Goh." the sigil lit up bright orange, and the door began to shake. Sam continued chanting. "Kah-Nee-Lah...Poo-Goh. Kah-Nee-Lah...Poo-Goh!"

The kitchen door completely vanished. In it places a rectangle of bright light — a portal into the past.

"Here we go," Dean said. He grabbed his brother's arm and stepped forward. With Castiel holding his shoulder, and Sam's arm in his hand, two hunters and an angel stepped into the past.

* * *

On the other side of the door, the time-travels came face to face with a younger-looking Dean, who was utterly shocked at their entrance.

 _That must be what I looked like when Henry popped out of the closest._ Dean thought as the younger him, reached for his gun on the bed. Castiel strode forward, pressing his index and middle finger to young-Dean's forehead. The young hunter collapsed on the bed he was sitting on.

"He will wake later," Castiel said. And before Dean could ask, the angels continued. "No, he will not remember this."

"Great, now let's get the Winchester Gospels part Deux on the road," Dean announced.

"We need to get out of this room."

On that point, Dean agreed with his brother. Being around when young-Dean woke up was just asking for trouble. They left the motel room and headed for the streets. Castiel popped a newspaper dispenser open an stole the day's paper. Dean peered at the date printed on the front page: October 16th, 2005. He shook his head. They had really done it.

"I can't believe it." Sam was smiling.

"What are you, Buddy the Elf, fresh from the North Pole?" Dean teased. "This was the plan all along."

"Yeah, but how many of our plans actually work?" Sam retorted.

"Sam is not wrong, Dean," Castiel said. "Your plans do tend to fail."

"Whatever. Let's get started. Who's going where first?" Dean asked.

"I should pray to this time's Castiel. When he answers my prayers, I will...merge with him." Castiel said. "Fixing the future will be much easier if I have access to my full power."

"Awesome, you do that." Dean glanced at his brother. "Sam, you want to hit the Bunker? I don't like thinking of that place, all dusty and dark."

"We don't have the key," Sam said. "Bringing anything to the past with us would have erased it from the future."

Dean made his way over to the old truck parked at the end of the motel lot, and Sam followed a few steps behind. Dean looked around the lot, and when he saw it was clear, his elbow smashed through the driver's side window.

"Cass, you coming?" He called, hotwiring the engine to start.

"No, I will pray here and meet you at the Bunker," Castiel said.

Sam climbed into the passenger seat as the engine rumbled to life. He looked over at Dean, who was waving to Cass.

"Dude. We're back in 2005."


End file.
